Craig Breen has edged closer to winning the Super 2000 Rally title after winning the Rallye de France

Updated: Sunday, 07 Oct 2012 16:33

Craig Breen can take the world title at the Spanish rally in November

Craig Breen moved one step closer to securing the WRC Super 2000 championship after securing a dramatic victory at the Rallye de France.

Breen won the penultimate round of the championship by 37.6 seconds from Yazeed Al Rajhi in with neither of the Waterford driver’s title rivals able to finish in the top three.

While Breen had started the event well on Thursday, on Friday he slipped behind New Zealander Hayden Paddon, who continued to lead the event into Saturday with championship leader, PG Andersson in third.

Breen had a spin during Stage 13 on Saturday which saw him lose time on Paddon and a rear differential problem saw the Motorsport Ireland International Driver of the Year limp home in third position, falling behind Al Rajhi with Andersson also dropping down the rankings.

On Sunday, with the rear differential fixed, Breen regained the second spot on Stage 19 and Paddon stalled on Stage 20, ended up retiring from the event, resulting in a win for Breen.

Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle now leads the Super 2000 standings by five points with one event left.

The final championship event is on 8 November in Spain with Breen in pole position to win his second World Championship title in two years after his World Rally Championship Academy victory in 2011.